Wayne County Jail will go understaffed without more funding, sheriff says

Oct. 1, 2013

When overtime funding is used up, the jails in Wayne County will go understaffed as a way to avoid going over budget, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon's office announced Tuesday. / Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

When overtime funding is used up, the jails in Wayne County will go understaffed as a way to avoid going over budget, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon’s office announced Tuesday.

That means the jail would defy court-mandated staffing levels for its population and could force a court to compel the Wayne County Commission to fund overtime deficits related to staffing of the facilities.

The move by Napoleon is in reaction to the Sheriff’s Office budget approved by the County Commission for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which includes $3.6 million for overtime — a slight increase over previous years. Napoleon had sought commission approval this year to hire about 150 additional deputies, which he said would save up to $8 million in overtime costs.

Napoleon said the jails are budgeted for about 1,800 inmates. On Tuesday, the jail population at the county’s three units was around 2,300 inmates, with another 500 released on electronic monitoring units.

“The commission makes a huge issue out of the management of the jail, and we’re going to make a decision in this county on whether we’re going to fund the jail properly or we’re going to release people (we can’t afford to house),” he said.

The commission approved 38 new deputies for the new fiscal year. Commissioner Ilona Varga, D-Lincoln Park, said she voted against the county’s budget because of several areas being funded unrealistically.

“I agree with (Napoleon) that we need to bring in as many personnel as we possibly can to fully staff the jail,” said Varga, chair of the commission’s Public Safety Committee.

But Varga said Napoleon could make cuts to other parts of his department to find funding for additional deputies, including his 40 appointees, who account for about $3.4 million of the department’s annual budget. Last year, county commissioners discussed cutting 10 appointees who were not part of the county charter, who accounted for $800,000. With sheriff’s deputies starting at $28,000 per year, Napoleon could hire 28 deputies from that cut alone.

Jail overtime is nothing new. Ten years ago, under then-Sheriff Robert Ficano, the county commission allotted $2 million for jail overtime. That year, the actual amount billed was $10 million.

“There will be an intervention, but the question is to what extent?” Napoleon said of other entities stepping in to guarantee funding for jail staffing. “I’ve tried very hard to work with people on my budget. I told them from Day One I could not live with (what they were proposing). I’ll do whatever I can to stay with this budget.”